World News

Industry urges Merkel to back down on Moscow sanctions

Merkel has become a strong supporter of sanctions on Putin (Carsten Koall)

THE German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is under pressure from leading
industrialists to roll back sanctions against Russia, as some of her backers
switch their support to her party’s Eurosceptic rival, the Alternative for
Germany (AfD).

Merkel’s aides say she has been “annoyed” by phone calls from chief executives
of large companies, demanding a relaxation of Germany’s stance towards the
Kremlin in order to preserve £59bn a year in trade with Russia.

Berlin was initially reluctant to impose sanctions after Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine, but the shooting down in July of a Malaysia Airlines jet as it flew
over the east of the country — apparently by Moscow-backed separatists —
forced Merkel’s hand and she became an avid supporter.

However, senior business figures, including Heinrich Weiss, head of the
supervisory board of SMS, an engineering company with 13,000 employees, have
switched their support from Merkel’s Christian Democrats to the AfD, which
opposes sanctions.